I am new to a company whose IT manager has been with the company 15 years and even though he understands the companies’ issues and knows how to fix it all, he has no concept of how things should be or when it is time to try new ideas.

Here is an example:

In a remote office 8 users need access to 7 different network dives, which means access and mapping.

I offer to create an AD group with users, add group to folder for access and deploy with script to map drives(that I got here).

His response:

“We don't use scripts for all these drives because we're using Windows 2003 servers and we need to give them access to the folders. We're going to use the script as soon we move everyone to Windows 2008 Active Directory. “

I come from a IT department of over 50, with goals to limit downtime and to keep things as organized so that anyone could come in and make sense of it.

They do not organize anything in AD, do not use print servers and add 75+ users to 50+ network shares and folders shared on 6 different FS servers. They have nothing labeled, asset tagged or marked and very little documented. Most information is only stored in the managers head.

So I ask you, how do you introduce new methods to this kind of madness??

31 Replies

heres what you say "his terms": "Lishin here sunny bosshh.....there comes a time in a company's life when things need to change...... we may have not used scripts before but we do need to now....I do understand change is hard to accept some times but there has been a huge increase in technology lately and we need to get organized and decrease down time and increase setup time because of organization etc....."

or

HEY!! OLD MAN!!! .....wait no that would get you fired.....

No but honestly, its best to do the best with what you have. Keep trying to get the new thing proposed, give them all the upsides of the proposal and all the downsides of the way they have it now. Eventually they will budge if you keep bringing it up, they will realize that it is something that could be useful. Do your research find reasons and professionals that say its better the way you want it etc....

First thing... start documenting everything for yourself. Eventually when the need for information arises, you will be able to provide it easily.

The whole "old dogs, new trick" thing is going to be hard to get past. I think that he's primarily worried that the young kid is going to take his job and for that reason alone, he will be putting up walls.

I think that the easiest way to accomplish this would be to word your ideas in a way that will make him think that HE thought of it.

Do you have Technet or something similar? You'd probably get fired for doing it on the production system, but you could setup a test domain and demonstrate how well it works. While you're at it, show off what group policy preferences can do. It sounds like he's just stuck in "it works" and doesn't know how much easier it could be. You can tell someone all day how much better/easier/cooler something is, but all those words sometimes can't amount to five minutes of seeing it in action.

I would take half of what they said above (documenting what you think should be, and suggesting improvements to the boss via EMAIL ONLY). In the end management is a strange animal and not often to changing their ways. I would spend 5 minutes in an email explaining some of the benfits or advantages of using the scripts (possibly cc'ing someone above him as well). From that point on I would serioulsy just wash my hands of it. If you enjoy what you are currently doing, are making a decent living and want to stay there, just do things there way. I know it sucks to hear, but it seems every company i've ever worked for has had similar issues. I've come to realize NO ONE follows or possibly can follow all "best practices". I learn to adapt to the way they do things, documenting any suggestions to at least 2 people above me, and then forgetting about it. Otherwise you just get bitter, discruntled, and end up resenting your boss for not doing things "the best way". It can be a losing battle and accomplish nothing but grief for you in the end. Let them waste their time and money unless you are in a profit sharing scenario, who cares... it keeps you busy, it might even add to job security being the "only other one who knows what to do". There is always a better way to do something, but if the powers that be can't or won't recognize the benfit of doing things that way, then all you can do is mention it, and move on. In the end thier short-sightedness only secures your job and gives you a better position to bargain from when they decide your boss needs to retire. If any kid fresh out of their MCSE course can walk in, read everything about the setup, figure it out and fix everything..... both of your jobs might be too easily replaced with someone asking for half the salary just to get their foot in the door. Loyalty is no longer a two way street, it is bought and paid for like any other commodity. Make yourself as valuable as possible and reap the benefits down the road. Maybe then, when your boss is gone, retired or leaves you can implement the changes you want. Scripts are great, but with server 2008 you don't even need those.... group policy preferences work wonderfully in 2008, and pretty much eliminate the need for mapping scripts at that point anyway.

I would add to the above suggestions (document everything, try to figure out a way to make him see it as being his idea) ) that if you can find a way to pin a dollars & cents number on how much $$$ is being wasted by using manual processes that should help immensely. Something about how we spend this amount of time doing it the old way and we could save this amount of time doing it the easy way. That way we can spend more time working on other, more pressing issues or helping end users (or whatever else you have to do day in and day out) and try to get to his business sense to see the light.

Scripts are great, but with server 2008 you don't even need those.... group policy preferences work wonderfully in 2008, and pretty much eliminate the need for mapping scripts at that point anyway.

Actually, as long as you have a client running Vista or 7 that you can install the remote admin tools on, GPP works with 2003 - just be sure to install the client side extensions on the XP and Vista clients. You're right however, with GPP I see no reason to script, at least for something like drive and printer mapping. I've been using it for around two years now and it's fantastic.

A few more things to all the great advice in this article. We will use do a cost benefit analysis. It's basically a statement of proposal, the benefits that will be derived, the costs for maintaining the status quo, cost comparison of now versus the to-be status and a brief summary.

Note: Cost savings might be what we spend today versus what we would spend on ???? in a year. The cost is selecting the wrong provider, hardware, etc is what's at risk also....

Benefits are stated in terms of time saved, resources saved or money saved or earned.

First, I'd start documenting everything myself. You can say it's for your own reference, but really it'll be a major benefit for the entire department. You could also add in places where optimisations could be had while you're drafting those notes, so long as you're subtle about it.

Then I'd start proposing alternatives. Let him suggest his way...then instead of telling him the reasons why his way is dumb, ask a question such that he can only answer with what you want to tell him. It forces him to realize your point a lot quicker, and truly understand what you're trying to get across. The risk is that sometimes he'll think "it was his idea", but even then at least it'll get done that way.

You can also try to guide conversations when you can such that you're told what to do, but not exactly how to go about doing it. Use that flexibility to implement the Best Practices you desire. When asked about it, your defense is that you were following Best Practices and once in place the efficiency should speak for itself.

If none of that works, you can always simply play dumb and "ask for forgiveness instead of permission". Shouldn't be hard if your job still gets done, things still get repaired, no one's complaining and you really ARE right. Just be careful to still listen to the opposing viewpoints as well, as you won't always be right and sometimes the old "tried and true" ways are still used for a reason.

I have tried on a few occasions to offer assistance. Even wrote up a nice email one day offering to label and rename all the printers and computers to one standard as a way for me to become familiar with the people and equipment.

I also had asked if they used asset tags…..his response…..ehh and a shrug of the shoulders(that has been his answer to lots of questions).

I am and will continue to document and in the meantime I think I will sneak a few things in here and there.

Nothing new to add except my opinion. Document everything until everything "in his head" is also in the network documentation. Then show it to him, along with your suggestion's for improvement. If he's got any sort of smart's at that point he'll realize it's better to steal your idea's than suppress them :)

Is there a chance of breaking away from mapped drives? I just put a shortcut to the server on their desktops. They from there just go to the shares they need.

My boss has about 30 years in IT, and can be resistant to change. Often times, doing something in a small or test environment, then showing him how cool the thing is helps. Some of the items I've done his with have been Windows 7, virtualization, and Exchange 2010.

Share examples you can read about online with him. Demonstrate the benefits and time savings it will generate. Yes it may take some time & work to set up, but as the company grows and moves forward, you will be better equipped to handle the next project.

Perhaps chart some simulated set ups that will visually show the impact it will create.

Be sure to show dollar value. No matter how big or how small a company is, showing them how they can save money or spend less always gets someone's attention.

If all else fails, be subtle and make him think it is his idea. Cultivate the process into him wanting to do it. Not direct approaches, but informational conversations and emails. Track it all and watch it sprout.

One suggestion would be to ask him when you'll be moving to Server 2008. If it's going to be a long/indefinite time, ask him to let you go ahead with the project as a temporary fix. Since you're on XP still, you might try what we did for upgrading to Windows 7 - we got approval to buy a few new machines with Windows 7 on them each month. By the time we're done Windows 8 will probably be out, but I'm hopeful upper management will be used to seeing new machines on the expenses by then. ;-)

If you do sneak some things in, be sure to document them at some point. Otherwise you're just creating your own pocket of knowledge stored only in one person's head.

Demonstrate how it would improve things, and I always do ti in a method that does a show and tell of new vs old. Back it up with research, and so on. I love to mention that it's an issue that has dogged us for a long time.

First thing... start documenting everything for yourself. Eventually when the need for information arises, you will be able to provide it easily.

So, very very true, however if i can make a CYA suggestion, because i find that i spend more time dealing with politics and personal issues than with actual tech issues. If the situation ever arises where you present that documentation, do not do it like throwing it in the face of those that came before you. As a young buck i did this with an attitude of "Well if you old effers had bothered to listen to me we wouldn't be in this mess." and was summarily dismissed even though things got a lot worse and they ended up spending an ass ton of money to correct those issues. Didn't help to be right, when i had to make sure i covered my bills that month.

This is definatly a good way to go. i really dont care if i get credit for it as long as it makes thinge easier for all of us. I have deal with numerous Bosses who think they know it all but then again there the boss and im not so they know something!!

Demonstrate how it would improve things, and I always do ti in a method that does a show and tell of new vs old. Back it up with research, and so on. I love to mention that it's an issue that has dogged us for a long time.

This is a good idea. but sometimes they just dont get it. and that is when i give up.

My advice is to make sure you test everything so that you're supremely confident that whatever you implement will work first time.

I had a similar situation with a manager who'd been a one-man show for a long time. Unfortunately whenever I tried to take small steps forward he would resist and if I implemented a change that didn't work faultlessly straight out of the box then his knee jerk reaction was to revert back to manually handling everything.

He unfortunately had a serious mistrust of group policy, scripting, automation or just about anything which might simplify and standardize our processes. His ideal world was to provide a bespoke service for our 150+ users - I'm talking manually building workstations, installing software, setting up security, mapping drives, running backups etc. etc. When I arrived he was assigning manual IP addresses to every workstation and doing software updates by running around the place with a disk.

Fortunately I kept chipping away, had a few easy wins (DHCP anyone?), documented just about everything and he finally decided to move on...